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Richly colored succulent leaves with pointed ends. They are green, purple, and red.

About

An Iranian femme with olive skin tone wears mauve lipstick and smiles at the camera. She has short, whispy hair, large metal hoop earrings with yellow glass beds, a dark green tank top, and arms full of succulent tattoos. She holds a pale blue book that reads "Crip Kinship" in large black letters. Beneath the title, bright bursts of flowers and butterflies hover over a black person wearing a red dress, standing with a cane.

Dr. Shayda Kafai (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Ethnic and Women’s Studies department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As a queer, disabled, Mad Iranian femme, she commits to practicing the many ways we can reclaim our bodyminds from systems of oppression. To support this work as an educator-scholar, Shayda applies disability justice and collective care practices in the spaces she cultivates. Shayda’s writing and speaking presentations focus on intersectional body politics, particularly on how bodies are constructed and how they hold the capacity for rebellion. She is the author of Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021).

In honor of self-care and her communities, Shayda is also an artmaker and co-founder of CripFemmeCrafts with her wife, Amy. They make art that empowers all our bodyminds, particularly centering the magic and joy-making that comes from the wisdom and beauty of disabled, Fat bodyminds of color.

Find a copy of the Crip Kinship Press Kit here.

Find Shayda's CV here.

Find open access copies of Shayda's publications here.

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